“The disappearance of the manual-as-book coincides, moreover, with documented realities about how people actually learn to use new tools and devices. Studies published by the Society for Technical Communication, which regularly reports on 'human-machine interaction,' suggest that even when manuals are available, people tend not to read or use them.”
– Mark Svenvold, Popular Science
Customers generally read product documentation because they want to learn how to perform a task or solve a problem. Traditionally, they had to wade through pages and pages of content to find information, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction.
With the introduction of desktop publishing in the mid-1980s, technical writers could see the potential for greater innovation with the new tools. But at this point, we were just using the tools to prepare manuals for printing to paper.
Why use a print Manual?
Print manuals have some advantages. A print manual might be preferable for use cases where a mobile device is more likely to be damaged or abused. Print documents are portable, and don’t require a power source. Customers can also make notes directly in the manual.
Generally, the downsides of using print manuals outweigh the benefits. Paper deteriorates over time and print manuals
- Are easy to lose.
- Aren’t searchable and don’t always include an index.
- Don’t include hypertext (URLs and cross-references within the document).
- Exclude video and interactive graphics.
- Are more difficult to keep up to date
Enter the PDF
The Portable Document Format (PDF), introduced in the early 1990s, provided an alternative to print runs. With electronic formats like PDF, content updates and distribution are faster and cheaper than with traditional hard copy.
PDFs offer the following advantages over traditional publishing:
- Support for all operating systems
- Consistent look across devices
- Portable—download for offline use, or print
- Support for hyperlinks
- Internal search functionality, and the ability to search multiple PDF files at a time
At the end of the day, we were simply creating electronic versions of manuals. PDFs can still be difficult to navigate and don’t support a wide range of multimedia enrichment technology.
The Rise of the Internet
As the internet gained in popularity, we began to use HTML to deliver content to the web.
HTML documentation is designed for onscreen viewing and interactivity and can include the following features:
- Internal hyperlinks improve navigation
- External hyperlinks for additional information or citations
- Embedded multimedia, such as audio clips and video
- Optimization for search engines
However, there are some drawbacks as well. HTML pages don’t look like documents and they’re more work to create. The appearance of HTML content is not standard across devices or browsers and the content can’t easily be used offline.
DITA and Dynamic Publishing
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) paved the way to create and manage content in discrete reusable chunks called topics. Topics can be stand-alone or be combined with other topics to create workflows.
According to Vasont Systems, “dynamic publishing is a process in which unique content assets are reused simultaneously across many publications, including textual content and multimedia assets.”
By definition, a dynamic process involves constant change and progress—in other words, continuous improvement. One might argue that dynamic publishing is the documentation corollary to continuous software development. True dynamic publishing facilitates the nearly instant publication of the latest content and includes mechanisms for gathering feedback.
What Do Customers Want?
According to a survey by Statista, 88% of global users expect your brand or organization to have an online self-service customer support portal. A Coleman Parkes study showed that 91% of customers would use an online self-service portal or knowledge base if it met their needs. Harvard Business Review found that 81% of customers attempt to find a resolution before they contact support. These figures aren't surprising. Consumers today are tech-savvy and they expect the convenience they know technology can deliver.
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